Baked Asparagus Fries

I love asparagus. I'm pretty happy with the way that I normally cook it, but when I saw this recipe I thought that it couldn't hurt to spice things up a little. :) Here it is:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 lb asparagus, ends trimmed and cut in half
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place almonds and panko in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely ground and well mixed. Pour mixture into a shallow dish.
3. Dredge cut asparagus spears in flour and shake off excess (not much flour will stick to the waxy spears, but that’s okay).
4. Dip each spear into the egg wash followed by the panko mixture. Cover each spear in the panko mixture until fully coated. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Place coated spears onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper.


On the link above you can also find recipes for dipping sauces, but I was way too lazy to make any of those. (When it comes to my side dishes, I prefer them to be very simple). I also didn't include almonds because I didn't have them, didn't think they were necessary, and didn't want to go buy them. And the finished product was okay, but I definitely could have gone for something more flavorful. I think this is because I usually cook my asparagus in butter, garlic, and some lemon juice- all very flavorful ingredients. My husband thought it was pretty good too, but told me that he prefers the way I "usually" make it. :)

I'm pretty sure it turned out too bland because I didn't make any of the dipping sauces. Those recipes are there for a reason, right? We tried dipping ours in Ranch dressing instead, and that tasted kind of weird, so then we just ate them plain. If I make these again, I'll either make one of the dipping sauces or add my own spices to make them more flavorful.